First Contact Day

Did I know about this? I must have known about this. I don’t think I knew this, but it’s freakin’ nerd-vana whether I knew it or not.

As mentioned previously today is the anniversary of the first date my wife and I went on. Dinner in Lowell next door to the movie theater, and then a drive across town to the old Brew House where we just hung out for a long time.

April 5, 2007. A landmark day in my life.

In Star Trek world, April 5th is also the anniversary of the first human traveling faster than light AND the first human contact with an alien race. They made a movie about it. It was one of the really good ones.

In Star Trek fandom day is referred to as First Contact Day.

Our First Dateiversary is on First Contact Day. Holy shit snacks that is fitting! Granted, it was our first contact in person. We’d been chatting on line for a few months prior to actually going on a date, but let’s not worry about the semantics, our First Contact was on First Contact Day and oh my goodness gracious that it all kinds of awesome!

Sexism on TV

Harry has been rewatching The Flash. I rewatched the whole series this fall too. Something popped out at me today that I didn’t connect in previous viewings.

There is a sexist hypocrisy playing out in the first two seasons. Allow me to explain.

In season one, Detective Joe West finds out that his daughter is dating his partner and he is not happy about it. He talks about how worrying about his daughter’s relationship is going to get in the way of his reactions during dangerous situations in the line of duty.

In season two he has a new, female partner. When he finds out that she is dating his son he’s fine with it. No trouble at all.

Hypocrisy: Partner dating daughter = bad. Partner dating son = good.

Think about it, won’t you.

There is New Super Hero Stuff to Watch

When Disney+ launched WandaVision a couple of months ago I asked my step son if he would watch it with me. He said yes. Jen joined in too. We watched every episode together. The show aired (aired? Streamed) on Fridays and every other Friday he was at his dad’s house. On those weeks we either waited until he came back to our house the following Wednesday, or he snuck over at some point during the weekend and we watched the new episode then.

I asked him about doing the same for the new series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which debuts today. He said no. He wants to watch the first episode from dad’s house and he said we should watch it too so we can talk about it on Wednesday. 99% of me thinks, bummer. The other 1% of me thinks, bummer but at least I don’t have to wait until Wednesday.

The word on the street is that the first few episodes are really good. I hope the scuttlebutt is accurate.

Meanwhile, I am a a smidge more than halfway through the Snyder Cut. It’s one four hour stream, but it is broken into segments and I’ve been able to watch a segment or two here and there over the last 32 hours or so. I don’t know if it’s better or worse than the theatrical release. It’s more or less the same, just with lots, lots more stuff. It is much less confusing. Everything that has happened so far makes a lot more sense than it did in the first cut. I am having a really hard time forgiving Ezra Miller for The Stand though. Like… every time The Flash is on the screen I just want to slap him for being so bad in The Stand. Bad, Ezra Miller. Bad, bad, Ezra Miller.

Live TV on my Computer?

I used to be able to watch live TV on my computer through the verizon fios website. Then one day I opened up the site so that I could watch The Walking Dead and it didn’t work. Google told me that verizon took the service away. I switched to watching via the fios app on my iPad and never looked back.

I’m not sure why but I just tried it again and what do you know? It worked! I don’t know if it’s the same address as before, but it works so who cares.

Now when the sprung ahead clock strikes 9:00PM (formerly known as 8:00PM) I’m gonna watch me some zombies.

Prep for the Snyder Cut

So the Snyder Cut of the Justice League movie is going to be released on HBO Max next week. Thursday, I think.

Should I watch the theatrical version before then to prep for it? Should I watch Batman Vs Superman too? Does that mean I have to watch Man of Steel and the two Wonder Woman movies and Aquaman too? Just to be fully up to speed on all of the DC movies? Oh yeah, and Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey? Birds of Prey is the only one I haven’t seen.

None of these movies are great, with the exception of the first Wonder Woman, but I can’t bring myself to hate on them the way most comic book movie fans do. None of them, again excepting Wonder Woman, hold up against even the weaker Marvel movies, but I don’t hate them. They are all okay.

I had high hopes for Justice League. It didn’t measure up, but it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever see. I have transferred those high hopes to the Snyder Cut and I’m sure it too will fail to be as good as I want it to be, but it won’t be terrible.

I’m ready. Let’s just watch the insanely long flick and see how it goes. Thursday, right?